In a deep dive on Donald Trump’s “bad week” that prompted a massive Republican Party revolt against the president who is used to having his way, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the outburst against the president’s proposed “slush fund” was a direct result of their existing discontent with his GOP primary meddling.
According to the Journal, the verbal abuse that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was greeted with, in what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called “One of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate,” was an outgrowth of previous frustration with Trump.
For more than a year, Republican senators had largely deferred to Trump’s wishes — backing contentious cabinet nominees, giving the president free rein on tariffs and the Iran war, and accepting his judicial appointments without serious resistance.
This week, they revolted en masse, fed up with Trump’s insistence on settling personal scores and pursuing pet projects at the expense of their legislative agenda.
The “tipping point” came Tuesday when Trump endorsed scandal-tarred Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s Republican Senate primary runoff — a move that stunned many of Cornyn’s colleagues, the Journal is reporting.
GOP senators viewed the endorsement as reckless and personal. Cornyn is a longtime, well-respected Senate fixture who served in leadership, ran for majority leader, and has been a prolific fundraiser — collecting more than $400 million in donations for Senate colleagues, candidates, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee since 2002.
“I’m just sad,” said an emotional Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) after Trump announced the endorsement. She fretted that it would cost Republicans “a fortune” to try to hold Cornyn’s seat.
Republicans hold a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate. The report notes that GOP senators have warned that Paxton — who was impeached by his own party, later acquitted, and is in the middle of a divorce initiated by his wife on “biblical grounds” — could force the party to spend tens of millions defending a traditionally red seat.
Those resources could be invested elsewhere on the Senate map in truly competitive states such as Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska.
The Paxton endorsement followed Trump’s ouster of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician and committee chairman who failed to reach the Senate GOP runoff after Trump backed Rep. Julia Letlow. Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the 2021 Senate impeachment trial.
Some Republican aides viewed Trump’s last-minute Paxton endorsement as a sign of his broader frustration with the Senate and his determination to punish perceived disloyalty — regardless of the electoral consequences for the party.
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